Yugoslav People's Army

The Yugoslav People's Army (YPA), also known by its Serbian initials JNA, was the army of Yugoslavia from 1945 to 1992. The army, founded by Josip Broz Tito and the former Yugoslav Partisans after the end of World War II, was divided into the Belgrade, Zagreb, Skopje, and Split Military Regions, and the army was divided into brigades instead of divisions due to the superior mobility of smaller formations. The YPA had a strength of 180,000 troops for much of its existence, with 99% of the officers being members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and 55% of the soldiers being conscripts. In 1991, the army went to war with Slovenia and Croatia when they seceded from Yugoslavia; Slovenia managed to win independence after a ten-day war that left 150 YPA soldiers dead, while Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina would split off and engage in four-year wars against Yugoslavia. The YPA officially dissolved in 1992 after the breakup of Yugoslavia, but it would not be fully replaced until 5 June 2006, when Serbia and Montenegro dissolved and Serbia and Montenegro formed their own armies.